A shelf of powdered milk jars stood where once our table had been. I found a chair and sat in front of it – that was how much I missed you. Later that afternoon, the pharmacist asked me if I needed anything else. I asked her for honey powder so she disappeared into the back room for a moment. Then she asked if I could wait only until the autumn, when the place turned into a casino, because it would not be long.
By Adrian Bodnaru
Translated by Antuza Genescu
Read The Romanian Riveter in its entirety here.
Adrian Bodnaru is a poet, editor and member of the Writers’ Union of Romania (WUR) and has published several volumes of poetry. Since 2003, he has had a poetry column in the periodical Orizont and has received several awards for his poetry and translations.
Antuza Genescu (b. 1968) is a freelance translator, teacher and writer. Besides several volumes of Romanian poetry and art albums, which she has translated into English, her work also includes translations into Romanian of various poets around the world (Sudeep Sen, George Szirtes, Fiona Sampson, Jean Portante, Alice Notley, Erkut Tokman, Kama Sywor Kamanda), as well as science fiction authors like Gene Woolfe, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Vernor Vinge, Orson Scott Card, Robin Hobb, Stephen King.